It was announced Feb. 14 at the Board of Trustees meeting, that the “Fire Up for Excellence” capital campaign has raised $101,654,498. This is beyond the university’s initial goal of $100 million.

This campaign, which was created in 2015, was an ambitious goal.

“Everyone thought we were nuts,” said campaign chair Michael O’Donnell after delivering campaign updates to trustees.

The campaign, which continues until Fall 2019, will conclude with another, bigger campaign being revealed. O’Donnell told trustees this campaign will aim for between $300-$500 million.

This accomplishment is huge; for our university and our students.

This next goal of raising up to $500 million for our university is exciting and commendable. We want to say thank you to everyone who has fundraised for our university and donated to our university. Your contributions is what will help university continue to improve and help its students succeed in the best way possible.

While some of the money will go toward athletics, 82 percent of donations are designated to fund academics through scholarships and student research.

That means more students will be able to attend and succeed at CMU on scholarships. More students will have the opportunity to participate in research that will advance their collegiate careers.

During the campaign, the university also raised more than $20 million each year, and received more than 23 gifts of $1 million or more.

This shows the importance of reaching out to our alumni and showing them the value of investing in your university even after they have graduated. Their contributions are the catalyst for the future of our university. Their money will help students to come, and succeed here at CMU.

This is a crucial achievement in CMU’s history. It should be a motivation for all students, faculty, staff, current alumni and future alumni, to be believe in our university and what it can do.

We should all be excited to see the outcome of this next capital campaign and how much money we raise then.